


Winter Haze

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:21:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Sledge and Snafu decide to spend the holidays away from everyone else.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Kudos: 3





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> We get NSFW in this one, just an fyi. Smut can be healing because of…reasons. That’s as much energy as I have to elaborate on that right now tbh. 
> 
> I took liberties with how train cars were and are because I could barely write the day I wrote this, let alone research at my usual pace. Forgive the inaccuracy, and enjoy the fantasy of a train car and compartment of said car that I sort of designed as I wrote to make it fit what I needed it to do.

The decision to spend Christmas Eve and Day away from everyone wasn’t lightly made, but it was made quickly, and in the simplest of motions. A quiet conversation about how much money a train ticket for each of them would cost, a phone call to Mary (Sid was out) to ensure she or Sid could check on the animals each day they were gone, and packing in a rush as they reassured the cats and the dog with soft kisses and words that they would return. 

Exactly what the journey was supposed to shake, Snafu couldn’t say. There had been the usual ennui of the winter months, the repetition of work and just enough time after at home to try and relax before doing it all over again. The preparation of gifts bought months ago in advance for the holiday (Eugene was ever a planner, buying the first gift last March, a knife set for Sid to use when he went out hunting.) 

Those gifts were sat in the front hall closet now, where they would likely remain until they returned. They’d given Sid and Mary permission to divvy them up and take them to the appropriate people if they wished, since most of their friends and family in Mobile met at Eugene’s parent’s house for Christmas, but they’d refused, not wanting them to miss out on seeing them opened. 

As rude as he figured it was, Snafu couldn’t bring himself to care about that. He still wanted the people getting the gifts to enjoy them of course, but needing to make an event out of the gift-giving wasn’t necessary this year. 

Eugene had bought the tickets at the station, to where Snafu didn’t ask and again found he didn’t care. There was a lot he didn’t care about right then, except for getting on the train, holing up in the sleeper car for two Eugene had insisted they get even with its extra cost, and simply existing there, with Eugene, who seemed to be in a similar sort of mood. 

They both had been for weeks though, struggling to do much more than wake, go to work, keep the cats and dog fed and loved and entertained, exchange a quick kiss or hug before settling to sit in the living room after work to try and fail to read a book or whittle or do any of their other usual hobbies, then going to sleep to do it all over again the next day. Any conversations about it previously had floundered, not for a lack of trying and not in any anger or frustration, but in exhaustion. 

Hence, the trip. They already had the time off of work, and while there were sure to be complaints from everyone else (excepting the understanding Sid and Mary) for them not being at the usual celebrations, it was otherwise a perfect time to go. 

They didn’t speak all the way through the station. They didn’t need to. It was muscle memory, the pace at which Eugene liked to walk through the station (quickly enough to get to the train more than on time, but not so quick as to be pushing anyone else aside, especially any women and children or elderly trying to parse their way through the busy station), the way he’d reach for Snafu’s hand in a big enough crowd to ensure they wouldn’t get separated, how he always wanted Snafu to let him on the train first (so he could reach back out and take Snafu’s suitcase with one hand, the other reaching out to help him up onto the train.) 

Finally, inside the sleeper car with the door shut tight and the curtains on the windows of the compartment pulled to block out any light or curious eyes, Eugene sighed. 

“Feels safe now, doesn’t it?” Snafu asked. 

“That’s exactly it. I haven’t been able to put a word to it till now,” Eugene replied, dropping onto one of the beds, his suitcase haphazardly shoved underneath it. 

“I know the feeling. It didn’t hit me until we got in here, but man…I still can’t explain it anymore than that. We got no reason to feel unsafe back at home,” Snafu said as he put his suitcase in the holding rack above the other bed, then moved Eugene’s from the floor onto the rack of his bed. 

He nearly dropped it as Eugene’s fingers traced at his stomach through his shirt, cooled by the winter air but welcome all the same. 

“The routine of it all, maybe,” he continued as he finished placing the suitcase, then knelt by Eugene’s bed, taking those same fingers to his lips to kiss them gently. “Different sorta danger.” 

“Staleness,” Eugene remarked. “Maybe not as bad as never knowing what’s gonna come next, having too much going on, but-” 

He shrugged as best he could laying on the bed, his eyes meeting Snafu’s, looking warmer than they had in weeks, months even. “Still bad. You know exactly what’s coming, and that unless you do something, nothing different is likely to show up unless it’s some horrible emergency to fix. Forgetting every day, every week, because they all blend into one slurry.” 

“Like the muck on Peleliu,” Snafu murmured. “Just tragic in a different way. Less human loss, more…” 

“Destruction. Internally mostly, instead of both internally and externally. And not for any great effort or cause or need, just a result of living the way people say you should. Day in, day out, barely noticing any of it passing by because it never changes,” Eugene finished. “I wish they had beds that could fit two people on these.” 

Snafu nodded, then peered at the clasp that the beds tucked into, to hold them up and allow the regular seats to be pulled from where they tucked into the walls of the car. “Can you get up for a second?” 

Eugene nodded, and stood, watching him work. 

He stole the pillows from the beds before pushing them into the clasps, making sure they were held tight before freeing a blanket from one of the two extra suitcases they’d brought with them (four total suitcases was maybe an excessive number for two people, but if he told the truth, neither of them really gave a shit about that) and spread it on the floor. They had, however, only brought the one blanket with, so he popped free the beds for a second to steal the blankets from those, settling them on top of the one on the floor as best he could. 

“It ain’t gonna be the comfiest, or perfect, but-” 

Eugene dropped to the floor on his knees beside him, and pulled him close for a kiss, a hand on his back to hold them both upright as the train jerked to life and started it’s journey, the sound of the engine muting their moans as they lay on their makeshift bed, their shoes hitting the door of the compartment. 

“I didn’t move the blanket up far enough,” Snafu giggled in between kisses. 

“Shit,” Eugene laughed. “You stay put.” 

“What? No, let me-” 

Before Snafu could move, Eugene was there at the top edge of the blanket, pulling it further away from the door (not that there was much further to pull it, the compartment being only so big), with Snafu still on it. 

“There,” Eugene smiled as he lay back on top of Snafu, pressing a kiss to his neck. “Better?” 

Snafu nodded, and pulled at Eugene’s jacket sleeve. “Awful lot of layers left on you. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we ain’t outside in the cold anymore. You can take that off.” 

Eugene stood, and stripped off the jacket, tossing it to the far corner of the compartment. “Good?” 

“Mhm,” Snafu mused. “Tie really isn’t needed either.” 

Eugene grinned, and pulled it free, tossing it to Snafu. 

He caught it and tossed it behind him without looking. “What about that shirt? Awful warm, that shirt.” 

Eugene laughed and shook his head, but started to unbutton it. 

“Let me help you. Those fingers must still be froze up,” Snafu said, and moved to crawl forward to Eugene, getting onto his knees so he could reach for the bottom buttons of Eugene’s shirt. 

Eugene’s hand was in his hair, playing with it gently as Snafu undid the rest of the buttons, pulling his head to rest against Eugene’s waist once the shirt was undone. 

He pressed his face to Eugene’s stomach before carefully biting at the buckle of Eugene’s belt. 

“Just real warm in here, isn’t it?” Eugene asked with a giggle. “Don’t really need any of these clothes.” 

“No sir,” Snafu replied, moving away from Eugene to start stripping off his own clothes. His eyes stayed on Eugene though, watching him take off everything else, tossing it into the rest of the clothing pile they’d created. He was only half undressed, his belt just undone by the time Eugene was in front of him, completely and perfectly naked. 

He motioned Eugene over anyway, too eager to wait any longer to touch and be touched. 

It wasn’t that they couldn’t have this back at home, and a good most nights they did, sometimes to their own frustration the next morning if they were up too late. But there was something different about it here, just as good but something else at the same time, being able to be safely behind a locked door, being taken somewhere else, with nothing to worry about except each other. 

He could taste that feeling, in every kiss, in the way Eugene’s fingers scrabbled to help pull off the rest of his clothes, in the way Eugene’s hips rocked against his. It was otherworldly and strange and familiar all at the same time, and he didn’t want it to end. 

They were somewhat limited by the size of the compartment, but he wasn’t prepared to let that put a damper on anything. He had a small container of Vaseline secreted away in his suitcase that he moved quickly to grab, earning a fussy and yearning whimper from Eugene the second he was gone, returning to slick it onto both of their hard cocks so he could focus on everything else. Letting their hips move together, hands roaming, lips everywhere they could reach in a quick moment, leaving marks on each other’s necks and shoulders, making them gasp just loud enough that he had to ponder if anyone in the next compartment could hear them. 

Not that he really cared, as he figured politeness would prevent anyone from asking after them, and he was much more concerned with gently running his thumb over and around the head of Eugene’s cock, feeling Eugene’s teeth just a bit too sharp in the meat of his shoulder as his hips jerked and he could feel Eugene’s cock throb as cum hit his stomach. 

He didn’t have a chance to reach for his own before Eugene’s hand was there instead, working him as softly and sweetly as only Eugene knew how to, pulling him close with his other arm around the back of Snafu’s neck, a leg wrapped over Snafu’s hips as they pushed against Eugene’s. 

He let himself moan softly in between kisses to Eugene’s shoulder and chest, both hands wrapped at the back of Eugene’s neck, as he came with a shudder onto Eugene’s stomach. 

For the next few minutes they stayed there, locked against each other, kissing. It was warm and soft and safe and if Snafu could have bottled and saved any moments of theirs, this was one he’d wanted bottled first. 

But finally they had to move, using one of their shirts to clean up (not ideal, but they’d not sprung for the even more expensive sleeper car compartment that had its own bathroom, and even he didn’t want to go walking in between cars in that much of a state) before dressing again to go to the dinner car. 

It wasn’t amazing fare, but it was edible, and he hardly paid attention to the food anyway. He only had eyes for Eugene, who could barely eat but for the giggles he got whenever their eyes met. Finally, they gave up on dinner and returned to the sleeper compartment, kicking off their shoes and clothes to put on their pajamas and snuggle underneath the thin blankets from the compartment beds.

“Where are we headed anyway?” Snafu asked as Eugene tucked himself up under his arm, both of them wanting to be as close as possible. The darkness settled over the compartment now, as they’d left the lights off so neither of them would have to get up to turn them off later. 

“New York City. Was one of the only spots they still had these sorts of tickets available. No idea what we’re going to do there though,” Eugene replied with a chuckle. 

“I don’t care,” Snafu said with a smile. “Whatever it is, it’s gonna be good.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. ‘Cause it’s gonna be you and me, and that’s always good,” Snafu kissed the top of his head, and settled in for the night. He didn’t know how long it took to get to New York, but he didn’t care. He had his man and time to spend with him, and that was all that mattered.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boys in the city, runnin’ wild and lookin’ pretty. Are any of you familiar with that song or did I just show my age too much by quoting a song my grandparents made me listen to far too often?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note: I hadn’t given this an exact year to be set in, just post-war, but I’m going with 1947 because A. I just sort of had that year in my head when I wrote the first part, and B. because of this event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_blizzard_of_1947 which I did not know had happened, but holy shit, right? So we’re getting something like historical accuracy in here with this event being in the mix, and also changing up my plot for this one. I should note, I also only found this out while trying to research what stores were around in NYC in 1946-47, so…yeah. History man, what the fuck. 
> 
> A source with pics, if you wanna see what the boys would be seeing: https://time.com/3593070/snow-blizzard-of-1947-photos-of-new-york/
> 
> Also, this references some previous Sledgefu work of mine, particularly that they lived in Maryland for a time right after getting home from the war.

The city was loud, wonderfully loud. Reminded him of New Orleans, in a way. Not exactly the same, but similar in the way the noise made its own song, occasionally too cacophonous, but usually just sweet enough to insulate one into the warmth of the city, so it was easy to forget that any other place existed. 

That they were in the city with no hotel reservations, nowhere to go, and no particular plan would normally have been a cause for some sort of panic. They had gotten used to the military way of things: making plans, sometimes carefully, other times not due to a lack of information or some other small detail, then having to figure things out last minute when the plan inevitably went to shit in some way. But at least there was a plan. 

This was different, and somehow…okay. They walked, suitcases in hand, up and down various streets, occasionally popping into a motel or hotel to ask after a room, but leaving each time when the rooms were either taken or too expensive. It was exactly as he’d heard: glittering lights and something always going on, people always moving. And that meant they could melt into it, no one having time to care what they were about as they moved through the city, finally landing in Manhattan. 

Still, as the sun started to set and snow began to fall, he let his mind drift to where they’d bed down. 

“Figure the whole city can’t be full up?” he asked Eugene with a smile. “Otherwise we might have to make a new friend fast, and hope they don’t mind a sleep over.”

“We’ll find somewhere,” Eugene said, his head tilted just slightly up, the snowflakes drifting to land in his hair. Under the softness of the streetlights, it made him look positively angelic. 

The next hotel had an open room, and a price that only made them wince a little compared to the others they’d visited earlier. 

“Worth the money,” Snafu remarked as he looked over the room. The bed and linens were clean as was the rest of the room, and it was wonderfully warm. His fingers and toes weren’t entirely frozen, but he could feel them more now, sitting on the bed, taking his shoes off and tossing them at the foot of it. 

And, perhaps the biggest and best thing of all, the man at the check-in desk hadn’t batted a single eye at them only asking for a room with one bed. Granted, he’d also said it was the only room they had left, but even so it was still nice not to have any glances or glares sent their way, since they didn’t ask for an extra cot to be brought up. 

“That it is,” Eugene sighed as he flopped onto the bed, his eyes already shut. 

“How long we gonna stay?” Snafu asked as he dropped back to lay by Eugene, rolling on his side to cling to him. 

“Well,” Eugene started, turning to move into his embrace, tucking his still cold nose against Snafu’s shoulder. “I mean, we spent all of Christmas Eve here just finding a place to stay. Not that it wasn’t fun-” 

“It was,” Snafu interrupted. “Just wanderin’ around like that.” 

Eugene nodded, and Snafu giggled and shivered at that cold nose being pressed closer to him. 

“But it also means there’s a lot more to do before we go. So tomorrow, and at least two days more after that. Not sure how many nights of this hotel we can afford…” 

“You’d wanna do up the new year here? Just you and me and this bed?” Snafu smiled, and kissed the top of Eugene’s head. 

Eugene moved away just enough to lean up and kiss him back, softly on the lips. “That does sound amazing. But that’s…lord, eight days or so? That’s gonna add up.” 

“True. Maybe we can get on the train again in a few days, hit another city before going home. Break in the new year somewhere new.” 

“That doesn’t sound half bad,” Eugene yawned, and snuggled close to him again. When he got cold, he was like a cat, huddling for warmth. On a cold night back home (not that they had too many) Eugene and at least two of the cats would end up on him or clinging to him by the morning, leeching heat from him in the most adorable way possible. In the foxholes, Eugene had done the same. 

Snafu couldn’t exactly call them fond, the memories he had from the war, but if any of them came close, that was one of them. Of Eugene snuggling close to him while he was on watch, not so that he would impede Snafu’s ability to move, but so that he could still be near and warm and cuddled. Those were some of the nights Eugene actually got something resembling decent sleep, as far as Snafu could tell, as he remembered the feel of Eugene’s warm breath on his skin, feeling it now as Eugene fell asleep against him yet again. 

He hadn’t intended to fall asleep either, but woke up at eight in the morning sharp, despite the lack of their usual alarm. Eugene was still happily tucked against him, drooling onto him, out like a light. It was adorable, but his arm was completely numb, and now that he’d adjusted, it wasn’t letting him forget it. 

“Sorry, Gene,” he soothed as he pulled his arm free, and Eugene whimpered. “I know, I know. I’m gonna get cleaned up, then I’ll wake you for your turn, alright?” 

Eugene mumbled something that sounded like agreement, then shivered. 

“I know. Got a little bit cold in here again, but hold on.” 

Snafu retrieved their blanket from the suitcase he’d stowed it in before they left the train, and draped it over Eugene, who immediately grabbed it and curled it around himself. 

Snafu smiled and chuckled at the sight and gently kissed Eugene’s forehead. If there was anything cuter in the world, he’d be shocked, because as far as he was concerned, the cutest sight was right there in front of him, snuggling his face into the blanket for all the world like a half-asleep kitten. 

The bath he took was quick, but made him feel a world better, even if it was freezing getting in and out of it. Once he was dry and dressed, he went to wake Eugene, who was wrapped so tightly up in the blanket it looked like he’d be impossible to get out of it. 

“Gene, your turn. Get on up and get clean, and we’ll head on out for a bit.” 

Eugene didn’t even open an eye, just grumbled and wiggled more into the blanket. 

“Eugene.” 

Not even a wiggle then. 

“Sledgehammer.” 

Nada. 

Snafu sighed good-naturedly, and started to find and pull away the edges of the blankets. 

“No, c’mon,” Eugene fussed, waking as soon as Snafu started to pull the blanket away. “It’s so cold!” 

“I know, but we’ll never see more of the city if your ass doesn’t get up and get ready to go.” 

Eugene rolled off the bed and onto the floor with another grumble, then pulled himself to his feet before stumbling towards the bathroom. 

“Remember to take those clothes off before you get in the bath,” Snafu called, only half-joking, as he folded their blanket and returned it to the suitcase. “I can come help you take ‘em off, if you want.” 

“Then we’ll really never leave,” Eugene shot back with a grin, leaning out the bathroom door and tossing his shirt to Snafu. 

“Save that for tonight,” Snafu said, and tossed Eugene’s shirt onto one of their suitcases before going to open the drapes covering the large window. 

“Well…fuck,” Snafu breathed in shock. 

The city was blanketed, no, buried, smothered in snow. It had been snowing rather steadily the night prior but this…this was something else. 

They were fairly high up, on the tenth floor of the hotel, but not so high up that he couldn’t make out the cars and taxis stuck on the roads, some apparently abandoned, others still with their owners and others trying to create a path out for the vehicle. A pointless effort, from what he could tell, sadly. There was simply nowhere to toss the snow they managed to move, as it was just…everywhere. Piled high, with nowhere else to go but up. 

“What?” Eugene walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, another toweling dry his hair. “Got a fear of heights all of a sudden?” 

His still damp chest hit Snafu’s back as he wrapped his arms around him, and kissed his neck. “I’ll get re-good lord!” 

“Yeah,” Snafu said, and moved so Eugene could look out the window more. “None of the forecasts in the papers mentioned this…” 

“No, they didn’t, I mean, I checked,” Eugene stammered. “Look at that. Like the whole city just…stopped.” 

“Think it has too,” Snafu peered down again, and shuddered at the mess below. “I mean, look at it all. How the hell is anyone gonna get anywhere or do anything?” 

“Including us,” Eugene said with a sigh and a frown. “Least we’re safe though. Hope the folks down there are too, or can get somewhere warm fast.” 

Snafu nodded. “People out walkin’ around. We could probably go do that, at least.” 

Eugene cocked his head like a confused puppy. “You wanna go out in that?” 

“Why not?” 

“We don’t have boots, or any clothes that’ll keep us real warm in all that,” Eugene replied.

Snafu shrugged. “We don’t gotta go out for a long time. Just enough to explore the winter wonderland down there a little bit. Then we can come home, and I can warm you back up.” 

Eugene shook his head, but he rifled through the suitcase with their clothes like a man on fire with a poor understanding of flammability, yanking on the one warmer sweater he’d brought. 

Snafu doubled up on his outfit, stealing a sweater-vest from Eugene’s things before shrugging on his coat and shoes and leading the way to the lobby. 

“You aren’t going out in that, are you?” the man at the front desk, the same as the night before asked. He looked like he hadn’t slept, and Snafu realized he probably hadn’t, and was likely trapped there now until some pathways could be cleared so folks could try and walk to wherever they needed to go, if they dared to brave it. 

“Just for awhile. We came here to see the city, even if everything is under a bunch of snow,” Snafu replied. 

The man shook his head. “I’d advise you not, but technically I can’t stop you. I wouldn’t go far though. You never know if they’ll end up pushing a ton of that in front of the door on accident, or some other nonsense.” 

“If that happens, we’ll just climb a snow pile until we reach our window,” Snafu smiled as he led Eugene to the door, which they could barely open for the snow up against it. 

There was snow in his shoes immediately, but it was still weirdly fun, tromping through the drifts that hadn’t yet been cleared, and were growing as it continued to snow. The people around them were in a similar boat, alternating between fussing and giggling at falling into a snowbank (because what else could you do, with the snow not stopping and a day to go on with?) Each step made his feet colder than he thought they could be, but Eugene’s hand was warm in his as they helped each other in, out, and around drifts of snow. 

“I could see us living somewhere like this again,” Eugene said as they neared Central Park, which looked less like a park and more like a containment zoo for some horrible beast made of snow, that was rapidly taking over the area. 

“Really? Thought after we got locked out that one time by the ice you’d never want to live with snow again,” Snafu said, pulling Eugene close as a car, barely able to plow through the snow, finally lost control and slid ahead of them onto the sidewalk, thankfully avoiding the other pedestrians. 

“Don’t know if I want this much snow, but living somewhere that gets some…might not be so bad,” Eugene replied as they struggled forward to the car. 

Before they could reach it, the car slid backwards, spitting snow on anyone near it as it started to crawl again down the road, on the road again. 

They both laughed at that, as ill-advised as it probably was for the car’s occupant to keep going on such horrible roads. 

“Dedication, or a job he really needs,” Snafu said. “Either way, hope he gets there safe. God help anyone else in his way though.” 

Eugene nodded. “I know we haven’t been out long, but-” 

“Feels like a sign, don’t it? Nearly gettin’ run down by some madman who won’t slow down for this much snow,” Snafu interrupted. “You’re right, we oughta head back.” 

“Oh thank God,” Eugene sighed with a giggle. “Can’t feel my nose, toes-” 

“Or cock?” 

Eugene’s push was gentle, but he fell face-first into the nearest drift of snow nonetheless, laughing and spitting snow and ice as he worked to stand back up.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t actually mean for you to fall, lemme help,” Eugene fussed, leaning over with a hand out. 

That made it all the easier to pull him down with him, ignoring the scoffs of the other people walking past. 

“You ass,” Eugene said, but his lips were at his neck with a kiss, quick as anything, before they got back up. “We’re gonna freeze, walking back like this.” 

“All the more reason for me to spend as much time as possible warmin’ you up in the room,” Snafu whispered, just loud enough for Eugene to hear, who blushed so red he half-expected to see the snow on his face, even on his eyelashes, start to melt. 

Moving fast wasn’t something that could really be done, even as paths had been cleared through the snow, or beaten down by the vast number of feet that had stamped it down, but he would be damned if Eugene wouldn’t be the one to find a way to do it. If not for Eugene’s hand in his, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to keep up, as his feet nearly slipped every other step. 

Faster than he expected, they were back, pulling the door open again and fighting against the snow near it. 

A different clerk was at the desk now, a young woman who smiled and failed to bite back a snicker as they walked past to head upstairs to their room, dripping melting snow as they went. Snafu hoped the other clerk had made it home safe, but was almost sad he wasn’t there to show him that they’d made it back in one piece. 

In the room, it was less sexy than he wanted it to be, trying to strip off wet clothes that did not want to come off at all, tossing them in the bathtub for lack of anywhere else to wring them out before leaving them to dry. 

Eugene grabbed towels for them, to lay out on the bed while they waited for their hair to dry and the damp cold to leave their bones. 

It was soft then, laying beside Eugene, listening to what few sounds the city was making in her distress over the blizzard. Like a familiar blanket or sweater, soothing even though there was plenty unknown. How and when would they able to get home? Surely the trains wouldn’t be running for at least another day or two, maybe more. What would they do if they determined they couldn’t afford to stay put until the trains were ready? 

The questions buzzed in his head, but blurred and dissipated as Eugene curled up close, wrapping an arm around him. 

“I’m still awful cold,” his nose pressed against Snafu’s shoulder, letting him know that was still very much true. 

“Indeed you are. We gotta do somethin’ about that,” Snafu replied, and motioned for Eugene to lay on top of him. 

He really was still cold, arms and legs covered in goosebumps, shivering as they kissed, and Snafu wished he had grabbed the blanket from their suitcase again, had half a mind to get up and do so. 

But Eugene clearly had other plans, grabbing his arms suddenly but gently, and holding them over his head at the wrist. 

“Thought I was supposed to be the one warmin’ you up. Can’t do that if my hands aren’t free.” 

Eugene only smiled and kissed him again, before letting him go and moving off of him and the bed. “Sit up.” 

There was a glint in Eugene’s eye, so Snafu snapped to and moved so he was sitting back against the backboard of the bed, and watched as Eugene climbed onto his lap, then seemed to hesitate as he settled. 

“Not sure what you want tonight?” 

“Know I want you,” was the soft reply as Eugene’s hands played at his skin, trailing over his hands that now sat on Eugene’s waist. “Just don’t want this to go too fast. Before you know it, we’ll have to be findin’ our way back to it all, the routine and whatever my parents and everyone back home need from us, and I love ‘em all and everything but I keep gettin’ so damn tired. I don’t regret moving back, not really, but sometimes I miss it, when it was just us and the cats in Maryland. And nobody really knew us so we could move about easy, and nobody paid us much mind. And I know that was lonely in a way too, because we didn’t often go to see anybody or have anyone we wanted to see in town, but-” 

Eugene interrupted himself with a weary, exasperated sigh, and leaned into Snafu, hugging him as he pressed his face into his shoulder. 

Snafu held him tight and sighed himself. There was no easy answer for it, no simple cure. They could always try moving again, he knew that. They could try finding new jobs in Mobile. They could just retract away from everyone for a bit, earning ire from everyone in the process but maybe getting back to that feeling they’d had in Maryland, with just the pets and them in the house, not much to do and nowhere to really go. But the itch never seemed fully scratched, and he didn’t know if it ever would be. Maybe it was the effect of the war, maybe it was just the state of things, maybe it was just them or their age or something else unnameable and invisible. But he could feel Eugene’s heart beating as they sat chest to chest, and all he knew for sure was that he wanted to find a way to keep it beating happily, and for this hurt Eugene was holding as much as he was to be soothed. 

All his plans for the night, for the sex and touching, faded away. Contact was needed, sure, but a different kind right now. They readjusted so they were laying down again, close enough to nearly share the same pillow if it would have had room for them both, legs intertwined and arms wrapped around each other, breathing and hearts beating in tandem as they slowly fell asleep. 

Eugene was the one doing the waking the next morning, gently patting his shoulder, announcing that he’d checked with the front desk, and there was all of one or two trains that were leaving today, but after they’d have no idea if any others could get out for the rest of that week, it simply remained to be seen. 

It wasn’t the announcement he’d wanted, as he bathed and dressed quickly, helping Eugene gather up their things. To have the weather and the subsequent consequences of it cut their vacation short left him grumpy and frustrated, but he tried not to let it show. Eugene, after all, had done the heavy lifting again. Packing most of their things, checking on the trains, and even finding the desk so Snafu could run to buy the tickets before there weren’t any. 

There was one hope, one little detail he was holding onto, however, that he hadn’t told Eugene yet. 

“Headed straight back home?” Eugene asked as they settled in the sleeper car compartment, one of the last available that they’d been lucky to snatch up. 

“Sort of? This train takes us down to uh…well. Montgomery. That’s as far as it goes. Then we gotta get on another to go the rest of the way, if the clerk back at the station was right. I know we both are runnin’ a little short on funds, but maybe just a day there, if you feel like it. It isn’t super different from home I figure, but it’s still somewhere new, and-” 

He was glad they’d popped the beds up and done their makeshift bed on the floor of the compartment again, as Eugene interrupted him with a kiss and pushed him down, smiling. 

“Take it that’s a yes to one last day somewhere other than home, to try and shake the doldrums?” 

“Yeah,” Eugene’s smile was electric, and he felt better just seeing it. Maybe New York City hadn’t been perfect, and they hadn’t gotten to do what they’d wanted to. They could always go back, and in the meantime they could have this last fun day before returning to everything familiar. 

His hands were occupied with Eugene, but his mind worked on his other goal: checking the train maps and schedules once they’d get to Montgomery, to see if he could put together a loose plan for another trip in a few months. Maybe they’d find somewhere new to move to, maybe they’d just have a good time together, maybe they’d finally somehow shake the heaviness that crept so easily into their lives and minds. 

But in any case, it would be him and Eugene. And no matter what else happened, that was enough.


End file.
